Parents DD's Return to Gymnastics After an Injury

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NY Dad

Proud Parent
My DD7 (level 2) broke her elbow 8 weeks ago. Last week she was given the green light to return to “all” gymnastics as of 3/10.

Other than the first week after her injury (and a week vacation) she’s been going to the gym (4 hours/week) and conditioning. She was very limited at first but not anymore. Until the last week we didn’t get much feedback from her coach (he just wanted to know what she was permitted/not permitted to do.) When my dw picked up dd yesterday her coach commented that she’s been lazy. My dw said she watched a few minutes before pick-up, the other girls were doing splits, my dd started splits and then just stopped and sat there while the rest of the girls were doing their splits. In my opinion her splits are not nearly as clean or low to ground as they were before the accident.

In the past (before the accident) he would occasionally comment that she was a very hard worker.

Do we let it slide? I'm concerned about setting a precedent.
 
It will be tough, but I do think you let it slide. Dealing with an injury is hard for gymnasts, and they will deal with it in many ways. It can be depressing to watch your teammates making progress while you sit due to injury.

I think it will be hard for her coming back, and it will take some time for her to find her groove again. My son had to come back from an injury last year as a L9. It was tough. I often thought he was not doing as much, and if I said anything, it really upset him. So I had to let it go. It was the best thing I ever did, as he is now working super hard......and doing well.
 
she's only 7 and just beginning in team gymnastics. she will have to learn, regardless, that you either step up and work hard or you won't go as far as your teammates. but it's something she will have to learn and decide for herself.

poor bug - so sorry she had this happen to her so early in her gymnastics career! it's tough to sit out, for sure. i hope she gets her groove back quickly!
 
It will be tough, but I do think you let it slide. Dealing with an injury is hard for gymnasts, and they will deal with it in many ways. It can be depressing to watch your teammates making progress while you sit due to injury.

I think it will be hard for her coming back, and it will take some time for her to find her groove again. My son had to come back from an injury last year as a L9. It was tough. I often thought he was not doing as much, and if I said anything, it really upset him. So I had to let it go. It was the best thing I ever did, as he is now working super hard......and doing well.

Exactly all of this ^^^^ that @skschlag said! When my daughter broke her ankle over the summer a similar scenario played out. She was often given feedback for not pushing, when she really felt she was working hard. Frustrated over just how much catching up you need to do after 8 weeks! Over a few weeks she found her groove and her coaches backed off. It will come for her, just keep an eye on it. My daughter was embarrassed when she couldn't get her skills right away, then started to shut down a little. Hopefully my DD will remember that she can do it when she comes off of her broken finger next week!!

Good luck to your DD. She is young and motivated; she will be fine!!!
 
I'd say to let it go, acknowledge how hard it is, and encourage her to do her best. It's hard for them and they feel out of place, unsure of everything, and afraid of hurting themselves more. DD was out for 3 months with an elbow injury. Just going for conditioning, with some strengthening added in the 4th month. It was tough for her too, and her coaches also said she was being lazy and looked like a deer in the headlights. There were other girls who were injured and older, and they knew what they needed to do, so she did look kind of "spaced out" in comparison. We knew it was hard, but encouraged her to do what she could, and sometimes showed impatience which didn't help. Once she got the green light to do everything again it took time to start building up strength. For some it takes longer than others. But once she got back to doing most of what her team was doing for skills and conditioning, she started working harder again, and got back in the groove. Now 5 months after the injury she is making great progress again with her team.
 
Bear in mind "lazy" is relative here.

She's had 8 weeks off. She will have lost some strength, fitness and flexibility.

Before her injury holding good splits for a minute might have been easy. She'd had time off and suddenly those splits are difficult to hold for 20s.

Same with other stuff. Before injury 20 kips im a row might have been a warm up. Now she can't do more than one.

She may be working hard. It just appears that she isn't because she is no longer as fit as the rest of the group and can't hold the positions or do the same number of reps.

Don't push. You need to be careful returning from injury because you're not as fit, so more injuries are easier to pick up- strains and sprains, and overuse.

She needs to listen to her body, and stop when it gets too hard. That may be before the other kids.

She will get it back, and once she's fit enough to make a session comfortably, then she can start pushing herself beyond that.
 
It is also possible that she spent time earlier working splits while the other girls were working events that she couldn't do.

When my dd was injured, she was doing stretching and conditioning the whole practice so by the time they got to official conditioning, she was DONE.
 
I don't know... I think some of the previous posts don't totally apply. OP's dd is in pre-team/ lvl 2 and just started in Sept, I find it hard to imagine she would really have that much to lose in 8 weeks. I remember she was working on her shoot-through before the injury, no where near kips.
I don't mean that in a denigrating way (my dd is lvl 2 as well), I know the skills are still difficult for them. But you have a lot more to lose if you've been working on it for years.
That being said, it's understandably hard to have motivation when everybody but you gets to do the fun stuff.
If it was my dd, I would bring it up but put a positive spin on it, like 'Awesome, you're cleared for gym, now you can get back to working hard again, I'm sure you will be able to catch up if you try hard.' And then touch base with the coach again in a few weeks to make sure she has improved.
I'm of the feeling that our family sacrifices for gym, I'm not worried about results but my dds had better do their best.
 
I don't know... I think some of the previous posts don't totally apply. OP's dd is in pre-team/ lvl 2 and just started in Sept, I find it hard to imagine she would really have that much to lose in 8 weeks. I remember she was working on her shoot-through before the injury, no where near kips.
I don't mean that in a denigrating way (my dd is lvl 2 as well), I know the skills are still difficult for them. But you have a lot more to lose if you've been working on it for years.
That being said, it's understandably hard to have motivation when everybody but you gets to do the fun stuff.
If it was my dd, I would bring it up but put a positive spin on it, like 'Awesome, you're cleared for gym, now you can get back to working hard again, I'm sure you will be able to catch up if you try hard.' And then touch base with the coach again in a few weeks to make sure she has improved.
I'm of the feeling that our family sacrifices for gym, I'm not worried about results but my dds had better do their best.
I would add that managing expectations might be useful to help the child understand that getting up to speed and on par with her teammates might take a little bit of time and that it's okay if she feels like she's behind. She'll be right there before she knows it!
 
I think it is worth having the conversation to make sure she still wants to be in the gym and ask why she has not been keeping up with the conditioning like before she was injured. That way you have better understanding of where she is mentally. But I wouldn't get on her for it. As the others have mentioned, it is really tough to be injured but still in the gym, watching the others train. But you will know for the next time to talk to her about how that conditioning helps her get back from an injury faster.

BTW, if you haven't already, you may want to bring her to a PT/OT (not sure who does elbows) to be sure she is ready to go back to full training. A dr clearance usually means nothing in terms of gymnastics. The clearance usually just means the injury has healed. It doesn't take muscle atrophy into account. PT can help bring back the muscle and the flexibility faster. I know it is only level 2 but she still needs to hold her weight on that arm in every event. You will want to make sure that arm gains back its full strength.
 
Next time the coach says something ask them how they plan to/ what are they doing to address it.

She is 7 odds are she is bored. Limited training s*cks. My daughter is usually the hardest worker at gym. Hated being there when she had wrist imjury.

Leave it be. She'll either pick it up or she won't. We are talking a few weeks of level 2, it is not a big deal.
 
I have noticed with my DD, who has a similar injury and recovery, that she did come back with less strength and has had days where she got tired quickly. She's has only been fully cleared for a week and a half. We did do PT after her cast came off to address the stiffness and nerve damage that occurred. Her elbow is almost straight now but her other arm is hyperextended so with massage and PT we are trying to get as close to that as possible. She definitely has days she gets frustrated that she can't do something she use to. Handling that emotionally is tough for such a young age. The coaches and I try to point out anything she does well or better than last practice and I always compliment her on her attitude and how she is handling things when she has good moments. She also gets reminded to just give it her best effort, she still has to do her current best. She still has a long road to get her arm back to feeling normal but we are adapting and staying consistent with rehab/PT as best as we can. Hang in there!!!!
 
I'm the OP. Thanks to everyone for all the responses. So far neither I nor my dw said anything to dd. We've decided to back off (at least for now) for all the reasons that were mentioned above. She's felt pretty bad for herself. I think now that there's a plan for her to return she's feeling pressure. (Being allowed to do something vs being expected to do something).

To answer some of the questions/comments

A dr clearance usually means nothing in terms of gymnastics. The clearance usually just means the injury has healed. It doesn't take muscle atrophy into account.
She literally went directly from having her cast removed to her first PT appointment (3X/week starting 4-5 weeks ago). My opinion is that it's helped very significantly with her strength and mobility.

I think some of the previous posts don't totally apply. OP's dd is in pre-team/ lvl 2 and just started in Sept, I find it hard to imagine she would really have that much to lose in 8 weeks. I remember she was working on her shoot-through before the injury, no where near kips.
...
I'm not worried about results but my dds had better do their best.
Yes, that's right, it seemed like she was very close to getting her shoot-through. I think from her POV she's lost a lot and fallen behind.
I 100% agree with you about the effort and previously I had been told she was a hard worker. That's why I wanted to either act fast and let her know it wasn't acceptable or let it go to see if she works through it. For now, we're letting it slide.

I would add that managing expectations might be useful to help the child understand that getting up to speed and on par with her teammates might take a little bit of time and that it's okay if she feels like she's behind. She'll be right there before she knows it!
Working on it. This is tough for her to understand.

I think it is worth having the conversation to make sure she still wants to be in the gym .
She puts so much pressure on herself that we've decided to hold off this conversation. I can tell from her (other) acti0ns that she loves gymnastics.

Her elbow is almost straight now but her other arm is hyperextended so with massage and PT we are trying to get as close to that as possible.
Sorry to hear that. PT has been very helpful for that. She's also done her PT homework almost every day. Each case is different but I think it's really helped my dd.

Next time the coach says something ask them how they plan to/ what are they doing to address it
Will do, thanks for the suggestion.
 
I would give it until the end of March and then revisit with the coach if there's cause for concern. I think this is common for a few reasons. One being the kids are afraid of reinjury. Psychologically as time goes on they begin to "forget" and move past it just like with anything else. Although the splits example doesn't seem like much, they will be a little afraid to put themselves back out there. And it's hard to get back into the groove when you aren't sure how you feel about something. If after a few weeks she still wants to continue but isn't quite her old self, then look into the Ali Arnold materials.
 
I would say nothing.
Because this sport is so intense, so expensive, and so much work for all involved....I would say nothing....right now. Because I feel this is a real test to see how your child does in terms of coming back to the sport. If this is something that is truly her passion, she will find her way back to it. Now that she will returning to action, so to speak, it may be that she will get right back into it. It is VERY hard for a young child to condition on her own when others are doing event rotations, and I can easily see how it can have carry over to other areas. This sport teaches children a lot about themselves. They grow mentally almost more than they do physically imho, and she is going to have to deal with being behind on her group and deciding whether she wants to rally or be resigned. I am not saying this harshly btw....I have seen it at our gym and know this happens from others at gyms everywhere. It's the nature of the beast. Now, seeing as the coach made that comment, I probably would have asked for clarification ("thank you for telling me, mr. x, is it just during her stretching, or could you provide a bit more info, and has she been made aware of this, or are you telling me so I can talk with her?"). As that ship has sailed, I would probably wait a few weeks and then check in with the coach and say has it improved now that she is doing event rotations again.

Right now your daughter is probably nervous and dealing with a lot of emotions that she may or may not choose to share with you. Or may not even know she has herself, so she WON'T share them with you. I would just be supportive and excited that she is getting back in there, and have her tell you something positive about practice everyday! :)
 
NY Dad, I think you got this. And she got it too! I think you're right, it's probably not so much that she has lost a whole lot, it's that she hasn't been able to progress while everyone else is. Definitely tough!
Positive vibes that being back "for real" will give her a boost and and she'll be back to her old eager, hardworking self!!
 
I nor my dw said anything to dd. We've decided to back off (at least for now) for all the reasons that were mentioned
NY Dad, I think you got this.
I think collectively CBers could be the best parents/psychologists (group source parenting ;))
My instinct before I posted was to say something since I know she cares and I thought she might need a reminder that it's time to refocus.

The range of opinions/advice was very helpful and gave me a lot to think about.
 
Watching this thread because I too have a gymnast with a broken bone and I'm so unsure how to go about dealing with it. She's telling me she doesn't even want to go back! How did you get your DD to go back? Or did she just run back to the gym without hesitation?

I wish I had advice for you but I don't know what to do either.
 
My DS has LOTS of fears about various gym things...but when he broke a bone at practice, he made me take him back THAT SAME DAY after his X-ray and cast, so he could show his friends and stretch his splits! ;)
 

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